I laughed so hard the other day that I threw my back out of place. I will have to see if that is covered under Medicare Part A or Part B. Here is what I read that led to my injury, “Walmart is one of the greatest companies in the history of the world! This single company has done more for improving the world than every labor union combined.” This was said by, John Mackey, co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods, which was recently sold to Amazon. If Mackey was standing up when he said this, I would consider it the funniest standup comedy routine I’ve ever heard.

Let me first point out to Mr. Whole Foods what unions have done to improve the world. Trade unions have joined with community organizations to combat child labor; they have done this all around the world. They have implemented and supported “Fair Trade” products and labeling initiatives in countries around the globe. Unions have fought for labor standards, social clauses in trade agreements, public education, human rights, worker safety and towards the end of sweatshops.

Here in the U.S. unions run the largest career training program outside the military. These union apprentice programs help place people in jobs that can support families. Union-trained military vets have rebuilt the World Trade Center. Union are a big reason we have a middle-class in this country. They helped create; public education, military leave, raises, the end of sweatshops, the minimum wage, overtime pay, 8-hour work day, weekends, paid vacations, lunch breaks, sick leave, 40 hour work week, pensions, holiday pay, employer health care insurance, collective bargaining rights, wrongful termination laws, sexual harassment laws, workplace safety standards and regulations, Americans with Disabilities Act, Occupational Safety & Health (OSHA), Workers Compensation, Social Security, Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, Equal Pay Acts of 1963 & 2011 (Requires employers pay men and women equally for the same amount of work), Family Medical Leave Act and Veteran’s Employment and Training Services (VETS).

What has Walmart given the world? Truth is, if I typed all of the wrong Walmart (and Sam’s Club) did to this world, I’d get Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. They are on the wrong side of every social justice issue. Let me start, with the lawsuits Walmart has lost. In the US, it is had a $50 million settlement in Colorado for off-the-clock working, an $11 million federal settlement for using illegal immigrants, and an $80 million fine in Texas for not disclosing evidence about safety problems. Raids in 1998, 2001 and 2005 resulted in the arrests of 225 workers without documentation located at Walmart stores around the country.

Barry C. Lynn, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation (a think tank), says that Walmart’s constant demand for lower prices caused Kraft Foods to “shut down thirty-nine plants, to let go [of] 13,500 workers, and to eliminate a quarter of its products.” In 2000, meat cutters in Jacksonville, Texas voted to unionize. Walmart subsequently eliminated in-house meat-cutting jobs in favor of prepackaged meats. A Walmart store in Jonquiere, Quebec (Canada) voted to join a union in 2004, so Walmart closed the store five months later. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that the growing United States trade deficit with China, heavily influenced by Walmart imports, is estimated to have moved over 1.5 million jobs that might otherwise be in America to China between 1989 and 2003. In 1995, Chinese dissident Harry Wu charged that Walmart was contracting prison labor in Guangdong Province. There have also been reports of teenagers in Bangladesh working in sweatshops 80 hours per week at $0.14 per hour, for Walmart supplier Beximco.

On November 24, 2012 a fire in a Bangladesh clothing factory killed 112 workers. Survivors said that fire extinguishers did not work and that when the fire alarm went off, bosses told workers to return to their sewing machines. Victims were trapped or jumped to their deaths from the eight-story building, which had no fire escapes or exits. Photos taken by Bangladeshi labor activists showed Walmart-branded clothing present in the factory. Documents revealed that at least five supplier companies had been using the Bangladesh factory to provide apparel for Walmart and its subsidiary Sam’s Club. It was also disclosed in a New York Times article that officials who had attended a 2011 Bangladesh meeting to discuss factory safety in the garment industry said that the Walmart official there had played the lead role in blocking an effort to have global retailers pay more for apparel to help Bangladesh factories improve their electrical and fire safety. In Mexico, Walmart bribed officials to change zoning maps so they could build stores.

Until the mid-1990s, Walmart took out insurance policies on its employees including “low-level” employees such as janitors, cashiers, and stockers. This type of insurance is usually purchased to cover a company against financial loss when a high-ranking employee (i.e. management) dies, and is usually known as “Key Man Insurance”. The United States Internal Revenue Service charged that the company was trying to profit from the deaths of its employees, and take advantage of the tax law which allowed it to deduct the premiums. Walmart’s low-wage workers cost U.S. taxpayers an estimated $6.2 billion in public assistance including food stamps, Medicaid and subsidized housing, according to a report published by Americans for Tax Fairness. They found that, “a single Walmart Supercenter cost taxpayers between $904,542 and $1.75 million per year, or between $3,015 and $5,815 on average for each of 300 workers.”

To get back to John Mackey, he stated in the Harvard Business Review that, “a business has to be sort of ruthless and heartless to be successful”. That shows why he really admires Walmart. Mackey is known for his strong anti-union views, he compared unions to herpes in that “it won’t kill you, but it’s very unpleasant and will make a lot of people not want to be your lover.” Whole Foods was accused of threatening immigrant workers in California who were trying to form a union. The company fired its unionized workers at its Auburn, Wash., distribution center for going on strike, and illegally hired scabs. In 2014 Whole Foods was forced to shell out $800,000 to the municipal governments of Santa Monica, Los Angeles, and San Diego for mislabeling prepackaged food products with incorrect weights. In New York City, investigators weighed 80 different items at eight locations, every single one of the labels was found to be incorrect, usually overcharging the customer.

As union membership has declined in the past 30 years, wages, the middle class, worker’s rights, and the overall economy has declined also. That just shows you that unions are as relevant as ever. Part of the good that unions can do for the world, is to continue to battle the harm done by all the Walmarts, Sam’s Clubs and Whole Foods.
John Oliver: “Whole Foods”

]]>https://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2017/06/25/mr-whole-foods-is-a-fruit/feed/4elecpencilhttps://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2017/06/25/mr-whole-foods-is-a-fruit/Open the Door to the Futurehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Elecpencil/~3/ngsN_dXHDvc/
https://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2017/05/29/open-the-door-to-the-future/#commentsMon, 29 May 2017 14:15:23 +0000http://elecpencil.wordpress.com/?p=6023Continue reading →]]>Look around at what passes as success by some of our fellow Americans.

“Keeping Up With the Kardashians” has been on TV for a decade,

making it the longest running reality series in the U.S.

The only things the Kardashian women have to offer is

being whores of attention with large posteriors.

The show has led to six spin offs and has won several awards.

This show and all those housewife of wherever series,

with drunken wealthy do nothing cat fighting vulgar women

are the current useless pet rocks of the TV media.

It is all part of the make something out of nothing

that now passes for achieving the “American Dream.”

America seems to be bankrupt of new ideas for movies.

If a movie succeeds even a little bit it will be made

into a sequel, prequel, interquel, paraquel or circulquel.

Hollywood is currently working on 179 sequels.

We have had nine Stars Wars films with five more in the works.

There are seven Fast and the Furious films,

nine Batman movies, nine Harry Potter films

ten Halloween flicks and twenty four James Bond movies.

The story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has been

made into films over 125 times.

Amnesia has been featured in 126 films.

Heroes who casually strut away without

ever looking back at exploding fireballs,

have been featured in over 100 movies.

Overcoming the monster, coming of age

and road trip movies have been done to death.

Instead of new music being created we have,

singers recording other singer’s hits.

Worse yet, tribute bands pretending

down to the clothing that they are clones

of a band that became huge stars.

There is no originality and everything is derivative.

We have come to accept dull and boring

forms of entertainment in our country.

If you think we should return to books

as a means of entertainment and knowledge,

consider who some of our bestselling authors are.

FOX NEW TV host, Bill O’Reilly’s daughter

testified that she witnessed him

chocking her mother and dragging her

down the stairs of their home.

He lost custody of both children in his divorce.

Five women’s harassment charges against Bill,

have cost Fox News some $13 million to settle.

Meanwhile, his new book about virtues

and old fashion traditional family values

is number one on the NY Times Best Sellers List.

We vote for and are led by hypocritical losers.

A man who files bankruptcy half a dozen times

has been elected president to run the U.S. economy.

He also talks of wanting to be a HUGE creator of jobs in the U.S.

while he and his daughter sell clothing made in Chinese sweatshops.

A plagiarist judge who ruled that it was OK

for a school to give minimum help to an autistic boy,

and who was founder of Fascist Forever on his college campus

was just confirmed as the newest judge to the Supreme Court.

Betsy DeVos who has never set foot inside a public school

was confirmed to be head of the Department of Education.

In America, mediocrity sells.

It sells so well that to succeed here

all you have to do is milk that mediocrity,

by franchising the same idea over and over.

Creating a current food trend and franchising it

is as exciting as American cuisine gets.

Grabbing an idea and choking it to death,

is the new American Dream.

A new dream and new ideas are needed.

Where will the new ideas for this dream come from?

I believe it is from the very source

that many Americans want to shut down.

I say it’s obvious that we need more immigrants.

Over the last 15 years, immigrants have increased the rate

of start up businesses by more than 50 percent,

while the native-born business rate has declined10 percent.

Immigrants are more than twice as likely to start a business

as native-born Americans are to start one.

Immigrant-owned businesses now currently employ

1 in 10 Americans who work for private companies.

The proposed EB-6 “startup visa” bill

that passed in the Senate but stalled in the House,

would offer a path to permanent U.S. citizenship

to foreign-born entrepreneurs who raise at least $500,000

from qualified investors and create at least five full-time U.S. jobs.

This bill would create as many as 1.6 million jobs in 10 years.

It is obvious that the most entrepreneurial group

in American wasn’t born in America.

I hope along with the job growth, immigrants

can also bring us fresh ideas in other areas

like; music, food, art and films.

Let’s not make the path to U.S. citizenship harder

by constructing walls and unending paperwork.

Let’s lay down some red carpet and a welcome mat for immigrants.

It is the path that will lead us to fresh and exciting destinations.
R.I. P. Greg Allman: “I’m No Angel”

“I take issue with many people’s description of people being “Illegal” Immigrants. There aren’t any illegal Human Beings as far as I’m concerned.” ~ Dennis Kucinich

]]>https://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2017/05/29/open-the-door-to-the-future/feed/4elecpencilhttps://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2017/05/29/open-the-door-to-the-future/This Isn’t Woodstock, It Is Laughingstockhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Elecpencil/~3/Z-EROluPcIE/
https://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2017/04/23/this-isnt-woodstock-it-is-laughingstock-2/#commentsSun, 23 Apr 2017 14:45:37 +0000http://elecpencil.wordpress.com/?p=6016Continue reading →]]>Ever had one of those times in life where you need an alternative that would help you with the bad stuff of life like; bad health, bad wealth, bad habits, bad luck and a car that has bad brakes? A good escape is to have a beer, attend a concert and hear some great music.

Once again the option of going to a concert and enjoying some good music will not be available at the Warren Amphitheater. That is because once again, the Amp will feature lame ass music by tribute bands. For 2017 there will be pseudo bands of: Kiss, Queen, Pink Floyd, Jimmy Buffett, Jason Aldean, “Aeroscrud,” Led Zeppelin, Rush, Journey and the Eagles.

I have never attended any of the shows as I’d much rather hear the worst band in the world as long as they were playing originals. Here’s where I make enemies. The truth is I wouldn’t have gone to see any of the above classic rock acts even if they were the originals band. I have never ever been a Queen fan. I could never understand how they could play a Nazi goosestep beat and sing, ‘We Will Rock You.” Not with that beat you won’t Fred. And what in the Hell is that “Bohemian Rhapsody” about? “Galileo you’re a boy scout he will not let you go.” What the F.

As far as Pink Floyd the beat to “Another Brick in the Wall” is just as bad. I’ve heard enough Floyd that I never have to hear it again. Hearing, “Wish You Were Here” would just make me say, “I Wish I Wasn’t Here.”

Jimmy Buffett, ever notice how dunk people at his concerts are? You don’t stand a fighting chance of enjoying the concert if you decide to see Jimmy sober. I can’t get that drunk to appreciate him. I also hate foofoo mixed drinks. Alcohol should be able to stand on its own without a mix or it ain’t crap. You’re drinking the wrong stuff if you need to cut it with a mix so try a shot of Jameson. I personally love singer-songwriter music. The great ones write tunes about love, life and pain. Jimmy writes about margaritas and cheeseburgers. It’s as if the Applebee’s’ happy hour menu was his inspiration.

Speaking of having to be shitfaced drunk to enjoy the music, we have a tribute band doing Justin Aldean’s corporate country style of music. That should please some of Trumbull County’s outer region’s redneck shitkickers. They will be able to attend now that the cable company has provided DVR’s so that these outer region sidewalk cowboys can tape, “Duck Dynasty” and Honey Boo Boo that evening. It will be an hour and a half beer commercial. Aldean will acknowledge his audience when he asks, “Where are my rednecks?” The ones not puking at that moment will howl, yee haw.” Aldean who was married with two kids stuck his tongue down the throat of another woman in the middle of a public bar. Because he is a punk who can’t hold his liquor he blamed it on being drunk. Because of these lowlife antics he was rewarded with the job of hosting the CMT awards. Aldean is poser country music for poser country music fans. He likes to trash Justin Beiber at concerts. That is because Aldean is the Justin Beiber of country music.
“Aerosrud” wrote “Love in an Elevator” and “Dude Looks Like a Lady.” If you didn’t know it from those lame ass songs they were using heroin. Those songs in themselves should be enough reason for kids not to do drugs. Just say no to “Dude Looks Like a Lady.” Aeroscrud has always been a third rate Rolling Stones. Who needs a third rate Rolling Stones? If we do we’ve got the last 35 years of the Stones third-rate career. Don’t “Start Up” Jagger it’s too late.

Kiss is not a band it is capitalism exploited to the max. Is there anything Kiss related that Gene Simmons isn’t having made by 8 year-olds at sweatshops in China? What genius wrote, “Hot, Hot She Looked Hotter than Hell?” Probably the same genius in Foreigner that wrote, “She’s as Cold as Ice to Me.”

Rush is the anchovies of rock music. 99% of us don’t want anchovies anywhere near our pizza. They are an overproduced, overrated staple of bland Classic Rock radio. Sticking knitting needles in your ears would be less painful than listen to Geddy Lee’s constipated screeching. Here are the lyrics to Rush’s , “Xanadu,”
“To stand within the Pleasure Dome/Decreed by Kubla Khan/To taste anew the fruits of life/The last immortal man/To find the sacred river Alph/To walk the caves of ice/Oh, I will dine on honeydew/And drink the milk of Paradise.” Not even die hard Rush fans; can defend lyrics like that with a straight face. The only thing that sucks more than the band Rush is, Rush Limbaugh and Limbaugh has an excuse as he is a drug addict. On a personal note Rush is the only concert I ever walked out of after hearing one of their songs. I was there to see the opening band.

The Eagles: In the film, “The Big Lebowski, ” Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski hated the Eagles. He was willing to be thrown out of a cab because he told the driver to turn off their music. I hate the Eagles so much that I would have personally jumped from the cab while it was moving. The Eagles were shallow, rich, cowboy wannabee, womanizing cokeheads. Even a rocker like, Joe Walsh couldn’t save them from, life in the boring lane. They are the kings of lowest-common-denominator rock, making inoffensive rock designed to appeal to the broadest vanilla record-buying, radio-listening public. This SoCal country-rock scene was invented by the late great, Graham Parsons. Parson called it, cosmic American music,” a fusion of country, rock and soul. The Eagles stole that sound but never could add any soul to their lifeless music.

I have always hated, Led Zeppelin. They’d have been a great band if their first choice of singer hadn’t turned them down. That is the greatest rock singer of all time. Terry Reid. Instead, their second choice, that banshee wailing, Robert Plant became the singer. He sounds like a terrified, screaming teenage school girl from one of the three dozen, “ Halloween” movies. Zep lyrics all sounded better when written the first time around by; Memphis Millie, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Blind Willie Johnson, Howlin`Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Robert Johnson, Bukka White, Sleepy John Estees, Albert King, Davy Graham, Bert Jansch, Jake Holms and Anne Breden. Zep never met a black guy’s lyrics they didn’t love and steal. Saying you’re paying homage to a bluesman by stealing his lyrics isn’t a tribute to an artist it is being a douche. Zep has enabled generations of middle class white kids to avoid learning the true history of the blues. Led Zeppelin is no more than a millionaire cover band. Besides, haven’t enough proms already been ruined with that, “Stairway to Heaven” theme?

I saw Journey at Youngstown’s, The Tomorrow Club years ago. It was when they had their first album out. They were very jazzy and quite good. They soon added Steve Perry and became a boring, bland homogenized chic band. No self-respecting man would be a Journey fan. Bands like Journey, Foreigner, Styx and the Eagles are not a band; they are just a hit factory. I don’t want to hear a tribute band singing, “I Can’t Stop Believing.” It would only further make me want to scream, “Come on Warren, I can’t stop believing we can do better than tribute bands.”

If you went to the concerts at the amphitheater you couldn’t have used enough drugs to reach any amount of groove quotient. In the old days at a concert folks took enough drugs they thought they saw God. At today’s tribute band concerts you just look at your watch and think god when is this going to end. If I sat through such concerts I could only get a smile on my face thinking about the Koran. You know that passage where 72 virgins are promised to martyrs. Truth is I’m not enough of a martyr to sit through such tribute crap. I don’t really care for that ecstasy drug kids now use as at my age cortisone is my ecstasy.

“Bad taste creates many more millionaires than good taste.” ~ Charles Bukowski

]]>https://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2017/04/23/this-isnt-woodstock-it-is-laughingstock-2/feed/2elecpencilhttps://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2017/04/23/this-isnt-woodstock-it-is-laughingstock-2/Tell Me No Lieshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Elecpencil/~3/PrvUwuLE7Vo/
https://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2017/02/27/tell-me-no-lies/#commentsMon, 27 Feb 2017 17:25:20 +0000http://elecpencil.wordpress.com/?p=6002Continue reading →]]>We live in a culture that does not value honesty or integrity.

“Don’t lie to people that trust you, and don’t trust people that lie to you.” ~ Unknown

]]>https://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2017/02/27/tell-me-no-lies/feed/3elecpencilhttps://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2017/02/27/tell-me-no-lies/A Voice for the Voiceless?http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Elecpencil/~3/WSzaVthv1iY/
https://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2017/02/18/a-voice-for-the-voiceless/#commentsSat, 18 Feb 2017 20:14:32 +0000http://elecpencil.wordpress.com/?p=5868Continue reading →]]>I decided to have lunch the other day, in one of my favorite working-class bars. I sat at the circular bar in the dimly lit room. On the other side of the bar sat four rather inebriated men. They were a dozen seats away from me and talking loudly. From their conversations I noted they were retired working-class men. Having worked in a steel plant for 28 years, I recognized much of their frustrations with living in a system that doesn’t listen to their views. I decided to just sit and listen to their conversation.

A man wearing a Steelers ball cap said, “Screw that Meryl Streep, no one wants to hear her opinion.” A man in a plaid flannel shirt added, “It wasn’t even her opinion, she read it off a cue card. Some Hollywood liberal producer probably wrote it.” Steelers ball cap shot back, “Why is her opinion any more important than mine?” I concluded that maybe they are right and their opinion should be heard. I took out the pen; I always have in my shirt pocket and took notes on a few napkins. I decided I would do a blog about the thoughts of my fellow workers. This whole conversation about Meryl Streep started because the TV in the corner of the bar had on the news. The newsman mentioned her criticism of Trump at the Global Awards.

A third man had both his hands so tightly wrapped around his bottle of Yuengling I thought it was a life raft. I note that Yuengling broke its Teamster Union, so I wonder why a working-class bar is serving such a beer. Yuengling drinker said, “Trump needs to kick Streep’s behind like he did that liberal judge bitch. He canned her ass for trying to override his orders. God dammit Trump’s right we need to send these “Ahabs” back to their own countries. I’m tired of foreigners from wherever arriving and not being vetted. The man is just trying to keep our asses safe.” All four heads nod in agreement.” They all then stated how glad they were that they had voted for Trump.

The judge fired was actually, Acting Attorney General Sally Yates. She had refused to defend his executive order imposing a temporary ban on refugees and visa holders from seven majority-Muslim countries. The thoughts by many that immigrants arrive without spending a long time being vetted just isn’t true. Immigration experts said the process for refugee visas typically takes between 18 months and three years, during which applicants undergo screenings by counter terrorism agents, medical exams and other checks.

An elderly man and woman arrived and sat next to the four retired Trump voters. The woman knew the men and offered to buy them beers. Three accepted but flannel shirt said, “I have to go soon I’ve been sitting here drinking since, 11:00 AM.” As he stumbled out I noted it was now 1:45 PM. I glanced over at the TV across the room for vital info. That is because that is a video of the parking lot, and I was hoping he was not parked near me. Once the danger in the parking lot was solved, I picked up a new conversation, joined by the two newcomers.

They were now focused on local issues. They were attacking the Youngstown School Board for having too many “coloreds on it.” They were convinced the new white guy CEO was going to straighten everything out. They like the new school CEO Krish Mohip because he talks tough and acts as dictatorial as Trump. I will admit I think some of the school board members need to go as they have been there too long. Next the bar gang blasted a “colored” man who was talking about running for mayor of Youngstown. They said that the current white mayor needs to stay until they drag him out. They love Mayor John McNally, despite him being indicted in May 2014 on charges including racketeering, conspiracy, bribery and perjury.

The next conversation turned to how unions were obsolete. I wondered how many of this crew was able to retire because they were in a union or benefitted by the struggles of the union movement. How many of them had pensions and healthcare because of a union. Yuengling drinker said, “The only strong union left is those UAW unions in Michigan and elsewhere. At those UAW plants the boss has to ask the workers if he can go to the bathroom.” I laugh as the UAW has so little power that they voted in a second tier that pays new workers half of what the older workers make. I think unions are actually needed now as much as they have ever been. When I hear people talking about how strong unions are I find myself wishing they had just 5% of the power that union-bashers think they have.

I reflected on guys I worked with in the mill and realized things haven’t changed much. I worked with racists, homophobes, misogynists, Christian hypocrites, Reagan Democrats, NRA pawns and in general guys who voted against their own self interests. It has now been 18 years since my plant closed. I realized the working-class are still voting against their own interests. The only thing that has changed is that the Reagan Democrats are now Trump Democrats and watching way more FOX News. I have long said that the biggest enemy of the working-class is the working-class. The working-class will continue to be downtrodden, as long as they sit in bars bashing people and organizations that benefit them and raising glasses of union-busting beer and toasting the Reagans and Trumps who seek their demise.

“We are our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves.” ~ Tom Robbins

]]>https://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2017/02/18/a-voice-for-the-voiceless/feed/2elecpencilhttps://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2017/02/18/a-voice-for-the-voiceless/Let’s All Get F**ked Uphttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Elecpencil/~3/gvvyvOD0cNI/
https://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2016/12/31/lets-all-get-fked-up/#respondSat, 31 Dec 2016 21:54:01 +0000http://elecpencil.wordpress.com/?p=5798Continue reading →]]>For 2017 I’m going to try and be briefer in anything I write. That isn’t going to be easy for me to do and still give justice to some issues. Especially, when I write about something I’m very enthusiastic about. Mike Stout’s new CD, “Blue and Green in Black and White” falls in that enthusiastic column.

In songs like, “Terry Greenwood” and “First Responders” Mike Stout captures the spirit, the fight and the ultimate tragedy of working-class heroes. Mike is a vivid narrator and an accomplished musician who gives energy to lives filled with a search for justice. He does this with anything from a blues, jazz, rock and Celtic backdrop. All of Mike’s 20 CD’s have been fitting tributes to everyday people that tried to make this planet a better world. Mike is singing about our unselfish brothers and sisters that lived and died keeping America great for all of us. These are people who acted on their own instead of believing some candidate was going to come along and, “Make America Great Again.” These heroes are the real representatives of the people not some politician who picks up a paycheck being your so called, representative.

With Mike giving voice to these working-class heroes, they rightly become martyrs that death couldn’t even silence. Mike’s songs always seek to unite people in solidarity by emphasizing what we have in common. They also point out things we all can agree with that we don’t want to lose. Those are things like clean air and water and our health. He asks us to think what is best for all of us and not be divided by polarizing people and issues.

Songs like the ones Mike writes go far beyond entertaining because they make you think. The powers that be fear this kind of music because it might make you speak out for peace and justice. That is why you only hear music in the media that tries to keep the 99% upbeat while they lose more and more ground to the 1%. When you turn on the radio you’ll hear a happy Bruno Mars singing, “Uptown funk you up.” You will not hear Mike Stout singing, “Stand Up-The Water’s Running Out.” That is because the 1% feels that kind of song might fuck you up enough to take action.

I say, “Get Fucked up” and purchase Mike Stout’s 13 song CD, Blue and Green in Black and White.”

“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” – William Morris

]]>https://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2016/12/05/living-small/feed/2elecpencilhttps://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2016/12/05/living-small/Leaving Spiritual Medicinehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Elecpencil/~3/f6Cld7vRcrQ/
https://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2016/11/06/leaving-spiritual-medicine/#commentsSun, 06 Nov 2016 18:15:08 +0000http://elecpencil.wordpress.com/?p=5776Continue reading →]]>Pat (Patricia) asked, “You know that old Victorian house across the street from mine?” He replied, “Yes, I do.” Pat continued, “A real good lawyer lives there and he is going to get me a new trial. This time I will get out of this prison as we are going to get a woman judge.” Her visitor sat silently, as he didn’t want to tell her that she was disillusioned. A bit later her meal arrived and she just stared at it. Since being confined here she was having drug withdrawals. There was one drug that had dominated her whole adult life. That drug was a potent liquid know as coffee. Since arriving here she had been Jonesing for a cup of coffee. The only coffee they offered her had terrible tasting Thick-it added to it. She took a sip her first day here and spit it out. Fact is, all of the food had Thick-it added and she refused to eat any of it. She had been having a hard time swallowing so all of her food was pureed. It didn’t resemble food at all, so she was going on a hunger strike. They would soon learn how hard-headed she was. She had been shouting out loudly to anyone within earshot that she was getting out of this prison. Her husband and family came to visit her every day. She’d swear at them and demand that they organize a jailbreak for her.

She was hungry but still refusing to eat anything but a little bit of applesauce. She claimed even that was way too sour. She knew good food as she was an excellent cook and an even better baker. She was someone people came to and asked to bake fancy wedding cookies. Everyone in this region of the country knows you must have a big table of assorted cookies at a wedding reception. She had also worked at a fancy clothing store for over twenty years. It was the kind of place that wealthy women patronized. As a woman who knew style, she had found her calling. She got to know the taste in style that the store’s loyal shoppers wanted. She would call many of these women to tell them an article of clothing had come in that she thought was designed for them. She would bring clothing she had selected for various customers to their houses at their request. This service soon became a big part of her job. She was able to aid the clothing store owner in the type of clothing styles he needed to be successful. She was also living in a new time of growing feminism. She was able to help dress women for success to help give them get a fair shot of breaking that glass ceiling.

Here many years after the store had closed, Pat sat in confinement with a roommate. Today, that roommate was finally going home. The room was abuzz with employees of the place helping pack. There is tons of paperwork to fill out before you can get out of such a place. Pat stared at her food still refusing to eat. Pat had a couple of relatives who were in the room visiting her today. They had been trying to encouraging her to eat. They were also trying to keep Pat calm during all the activity of her roommate’s leaving. Pat jealously stared at her roommate, she was longing for the day when she would be released. Pat spoke up to one the attendants helping her roommate. She declared, “Waitress, this food was not very good at all. We will not be coming back ever again. That is OK though, as we would just like to have our bill. We just want to pay and go home.” One of the attendees asked Pat “Is there anything I can get you?” Pat replied, “Justice.”

The Pat I speak of is my 84 year-old mother, and the he I refer to, is me. The prison she was in was actually, Sharon Regional Hospital. Her recent sentence was for ten days. I have nothing to say about the staff that attended to my mother but great things. While in the hospital Pat (my mother) didn’t understand what she was suffering from. In the old days they called it, “a failure to thrive.” It is a term they no longer use but is very descriptive of her problem. She had been hospitalized after a bad fall at home. She fell because people were chasing her. The people persuing her were all in her imagination. She had been afflicted with dementia for about a year. Many times, she was totally rational, other times she spoke about things that just didn’t make sense (to anyone but her). I wasn’t making fun of mom’s dementia when I spoke about her thinking she was either in prison or a restaurant with terrible food. I actually marveled at how mom creatively used her dementia to illustrate how she felt trapped in a situation she wanted out of. We all knew mom was never going to get better but we didn’t want to tell her that. We didn’t want to diminish mom’s hope of getting out of the hospital and going home to “thrive.” Truth is mom didn’t have dementia when it came to thinking she was getting better. I knew that when I heard her speaking to a nurse at her bedside. The nurse had asked her, “Honey is there something I can get you?” Mom replied, “Honesty.” At that I choked up and had an even harder time swallowing than mom had been having.

My mother’s doctor wanted my father to put her in a nursing home. Our family toured an area nursing home along with my father. My father decided he didn’t want to see my mother put into such a tiny room with another roommate. The cost of a nursing home is unbelievable (I will discuss healthcare costs at another time). My dad decided to take mom to their home and have Hospice come there. Under Medicare they can only come a few hours a week. My dad opted to hire an agency that provided home healthcare along with the help from Hospice. This was even more costly than a nursing home. Dad decided it wasn’t about the money; it was that mom would prefer to be home. My dad is a couple of years older than my mom. I was hoping that the strain of taking care of my mother didn’t kill him. My dad’s sister, my brother and I went to help him as much as we could in the week she was at home.

Thursday in the evening I was driving home from their house on a wooded back road. I turned a corner and slammed on the brakes as three small deer were standing in the road staring at me. I waited as they walked only several feed into the woods, they then stopped and all stared back at me. Being of Irish decent I know that the Celts (as well as Native Americans) have thoughts about what deer represent. It is anything from: love, beauty, grace, creativity, and watchfulness to spirituality. It left me thinking that all those things could describe my mother. When I arrived home, I was still thinking about those deer and realized they were a mother and her female doe. I did some computer research and came across this, “The deer (particularly the doe, female) has the capacity for infinite generosity. Their heart rhythms pulse in soft waves of kindness. Match that graciousness by offering your trust to her. She will reward you by leading you to the most powerful spiritual medicine you can fathom.”

On Friday after work I took dinner to my dad and stayed the night with him to help attend to my mother. I wanted to give my dad’s sister, Cathy a break from her generosity of staying all night for most of the week. We had my mother set up in a hospital bed in my parent’s family room (the largest room in the house). My dad was sleeping on a couch near the hospital bed and I was sleeping in a recliner nearby. My mother was not in a lot of pain as we had been medicating her. Her breathing had been getting harder each day. On Saturday November 5, 2016 at 4 am mom quit breathing. She hadn’t had the strength to talk her last couple of days. My father said a few days ago she stated, “I’ve had a glimpse of the other side and it’s beautiful.” I’d like to think she was in her own way, “leading us to the most powerful spiritual medicine we can fathom.” Rest in Peace, Pat and thanks for your watchfulness.

One of my mom’s favorite songs seems so appropriate: Nat King Cole: “Unforgettable”

“How can the dead be truly dead when they still live in the souls of those who are left behind?” ~Carson McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

]]>https://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2016/11/06/leaving-spiritual-medicine/feed/6elecpencilhttps://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2016/11/06/leaving-spiritual-medicine/Working for the “Common Good”http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Elecpencil/~3/-ZDCc9t6JS4/
https://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2016/09/11/unions/#respondSun, 11 Sep 2016 16:22:41 +0000http://elecpencil.wordpress.com/?p=5680Continue reading →]]>Labor Day found me reading many things about current unionism in this country. My son, Adam sent me one article from the Jacobin I found disturbing. It states that during the Democrat National Convention this year four major labor unions broke from the AFL-CIO Labor Caucus and caucused separately. These four are the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and both teachers unions the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). If you notice three of these organizations use the terms, federation and association instead of the word union. It is as if the word, union is a dirty word. The article states this about the four unions positions, “it’s part of a broader shift in American labor — a drift away from class-conscious unionism, unionism that believes fighting corporate power and the 1 percent is an unavoidable necessity.”

It seems these unions are concerned with serving Wall Street instead of their members and the public. These unions are embracing neoliberalism(a modernpolitico-economictheoryfavoringfreetrade,privatization,minimalgovernmentintervention in business,reducedpublicexpenditure on socialservices) along with Republicans and Democrats like Hillary Clinton. Union leaders have been silently standing by while neoliberal politicians in both parties have chipped away at the rights of union members. While the NEA and the AFT leaders are getting in bed with neoliberals their rank and file members are fighting back.

In 2012 the Chicago Teachers Union members went on strike not just for themselves, but for increased public services that benefit the community. They didn’t negotiate for just wages, benefits and safety issues. They realized that if they fought for things to benefit and support the community the community would support them. Other union actions like this and also conferences on this idea have cropped up around the country. It is known as, “Bargaining for the Common Good.” With the growing inequity in this country I believe such actions are necessary. Rank and file union workers (and even more so their leaders) need to realize that workers and community have many shared goals and that they need to come together in solidarity to strengthen their communities and further democracy.

Most of the info I was reading over Labor Day focused on how union membership has been declining for decades. Most statistics showed U.S. union membership at 14.8 million (11% of the U.S. workforce). Article after article was pessimistic saying unions are outdated and no longer a source of any chance for meaningful change in this country. I have been known to be pessimistic sometimes (I’ve been accused of smelling flowers and looking around for a casket) but I’m optimistic that unions can make real change. That won’t happen with unions becoming neoliberal but it will happen when unions join in bargaining for the “Common Good.” Think of it another way, the National Rifle Association (NRA) has 5 million members, with that number they own and control a large number of our lawmakers. Whether you agree with their agenda or not their organization gets the job done. Seems to me that 14.8 million people working for the common good should be able to better their communities and guide the hands of a lot of lawmakers. What are we waiting for?

“Unions have been fighting the 1 percent vs 99 percent fight for more than 100 years. Now the rest of us are learning that this fight is also OUR fight.” ~ DAVE JOHNSON, “Labor’s Fight is OUR Fight”, Campaign for America’s Future

]]>https://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2016/09/11/unions/feed/0elecpencilhttps://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2016/09/11/unions/No Tranquility in a FOX NEWS Worldhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Elecpencil/~3/BLtpIO0DpGc/
https://elecpencil.wordpress.com/2016/08/05/no-tranquility-in-a-fox-news-world/#commentsFri, 05 Aug 2016 15:29:45 +0000http://elecpencil.wordpress.com/?p=5567Continue reading →]]>Mrs. E. and I were having a late lunch in Bar Bill Tavern in East Aurora, NY. We were sharing a beef on weck (the proper way with lots of horseradish) and some wings. Bar Bill is famous for these two things and deservedly so. All of a sudden, I almost choked on my Molson draft in a frosted mug. That was because of the extremely loud conversation of two men and a woman all in their seventies who were sitting behind us. One guy said, “That damn Obama just gave those terrorists in Iran $400 million of our tax dollars.” The Woman said, “It just proves “Obamie” is a Muslim terrorist who is trying to give our country to ISIS.” The other man loudly chimed in, “That bastard never had a job before he became president and knows nothing about doing an honest day’s work.”

My head snaked around to stare at them. At that point, Mrs. E. kicked my ankle under the table. She said, “Don’t get involved, you promised me you wouldn’t talk about politics on this trip. Also, I don’t want you to get your blood pressure up.” She had a point as I had promised no political talk on the trip; I’d also forgotten to pack any blood pressure pills. I wanted to tell my tavern neighbors that; President Obama had been the director of the Developing Communities Project, a Chicago Catholic Church based-community organization. From 1985-1988he set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants’ rights organization. He also helped steelworkers who had lost their jobs. He helped them get training and aided in finding them jobs. I can relate to that because as a former steelworker I was in that position in 1999 when the plant I worked at closed. I didn’t get much help in getting back into the job market. I would really have appreciated a community organizer like Barack Obama. Conservatives who belittled Obama for being a community organizer just don’t realize what an important job that can be to people in need. I’ve known some community organizers and it is a difficult and underpaid job. The old timers behind me had been talking about a terrible supervisor they worked for at a construction company. I guess they were luckier than me and retired without ever being forced to change careers.

President Obama also taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago law School for twelve years. He directed Illinois’s Project Vote that had ten staffers and seven hundred volunteer registrars; it registered up to 400,000 unregistered African-Americans. It led Crain’s Chicago Business to name Obama to its 1993 list of “40 under Forty” powers to be. Obama then spent three years at a 13-attorney law firm that specialized in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development. Obama spent eight years in the Illinois State Senate. He then spent fours year in the US Senate before becoming president. That resume sounds like he did plenty before becoming president to me. Had I not feared being kicked again by Mrs. E. I would have stated Obama’s resume to the table behind me. I would have added that I bet all of their resumes added together wouldn’t have even come close to President Obama’s resume.

I reminded myself of why I had come back to visit East Aurora for the third time. It is a town where a hero of mine established an Arts & Craft community. I find the same peace that my hero, Elbert Hubbard found here in 1895. Here at Bar Bill Tavern in East Aurora I was having that peace disturbed by a few know nothings that get their info from FOX NEWS. I took a deep breath and tried to meditate and remind myself how tranquil I always feel in East Aurora, NY.

At that moment two men in their late 60’s sat down at the bar on the other side of us. One said very loudly, “I saw on the news that our government and that damn Obama just gave $400 million of our money to his terrorist pals in Iran.” The other man said, “I haven’t seen the news in the last few days but I’m not surprised by anything that ahole Obama does.” As I stared at them Mrs. E. waved down our waiter to get our bill. I would have given all of these folks who seem to get their news from FOX or right-wing radio these facts: The US did not pay a $400 million ransom to Iran. It was actually money Iran paid for weapons in 1979. The weapons were never delivered, so the US was actually refunding Iran its own money (plus interest) as required in a lawsuit. The Iranian government spun the story to make it look like a ransom payoff for some U.S. hostages. Of course FOX NEWS and other conservative media also spun the story to make it look like President Obama was paying ransoms.

I had thought someday about retiring somewhere like beautiful East Aurora (which is also not far from the picturesque Grand Canyon of NY) because I feel at peace there. I am now reminded some people will always eat the apple that snakes like FOX NEWS sells and F#*k up your paradise. I guess I’ll switch gears and try to find a very remote cave to retire to.